The last remaining free agent on Washington Capitals GM George McPhee's shopping list has been checked off.
This morning, the Capitals and restricted free agent defenseman Karl Alzner inked a 2-year, $2.57 million deal, further bolstering their blueline.
According to Mike Vogel of the Caps, Alzner will make $1.3 million next season and $1.27 in 2012-13. That's a pretty sweet cap hit for a soon-to-be 23-year old defenseman given that he could have commanded upwards of $3 million a year if you're looking around at other comparable blueliners, especially with the Caps' salary cap situation at the moment.
"For me personally I think there was a little bit left on the table, but at the same time it's not too often where you get exactly what you're asking for," said Alzner during a conference call with reporters this afternoon. "There's two different ways of looking at this contract. We definitely had to come down a bit and Washington had to go up a bit."
Tom Poti's likely destination for the long-term injury list will help get Washington back under the cap that they currently sit $890,128 above according to CapGeek.
As Alzner mentioned, there was a gap between the two sides, but in his mind the British Columbia native knew he'd still be a member of the Capitals.
"I knew it was a 98-percent chance I'd be back," he said. "There was that qualifying offer on the table right away, so I knew that I had that, but we were hoping for something a little more, I guess fair is the way to put it."
Alzner hinted that should he continue his rise in development, his next contract will be the one where he goes for the big dollars.
"This is that one contract that isn't your first thing that you wanted and then hopefully next one -- [if] I play good these next two years -- the next contract is something to see. I guess it's up to me now."
After nabbing Tomas Vokoun for $1.5 million for next year and getting a first and second rounder for Semyon Varlamov -- who wasn't going back to the Caps anyway -- McPhee is on a beauty of a roll of late.